Virtual instrumentation for no-load testing of induction motor

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to solve a practical and current problem, by taking advantage of the virtual instrumentation in testing electrical machines. The abilities of virtual instrumentation are used to data acquisition, measurement and analyze the values of no-load testing's parameters for three-phase induction motor. The virtual measurement system bench is designed and consist from two principal components: the hardware components (six LEM transducers for measuring three voltages and three currents; elements for signal conditioning and power transducers; USB multifunction Input / Output module; a personal computer) and the software components (operating system for the computer; drivers for the acquisition and manipulation of data; virtual instrument for calculation and graphical presentation of results). The LabVIEW graphical programming environment is used for designing virtual instrument. This virtual measurement system bench is an easy to use device which can be used in engineering education laboratories from universities or in electrical machines testing workbenches; it is capable of data acquisition, storage or memorization on different media, visualization of different graphs or analysis on-line or off-line of the results obtained. The virtual measurement system described in the paper can work independently (in the Simulation mode or Real time Acquisition mode) or integrated as part of a future complex virtual system for measurement and analysis in the domain of electrical machines testing workbenches.